Crimson Talon
by The Eternal Lord Draconious
Summary: It started with a curse and ended with a love. SasuxSaku. Now a oneshot.


-1Disclaimer: I sure as hell don't own Naruto!

Me:The Rookie nine are 19 in this story. Kakashi hasn't aged, and Tunsade… Wait, how old is Tunsade?

Tunsade: How long do you intend to live?

Me: Uh never mind! On with the story!

A Trap and a Curse! The Curse of the Crimson Raptor! (Not to mention the little problem of eggs)

"…" talking

'…' Thinking

(…) Inner Sakura/Demons

Deep in the forest of Death a pink haired ninja fell to the ground as the effects of a curse took her over. "Damn you Orochimaru… Why won't you just die?" ,The young woman cursed at her attacker. "Ku,ku,ku,ku. You didn't even stand a chance. Now that your out of the way, Sasuke will be mine!" ,The snake sinnin laughed. "By the time I'm through with you, not even my former teammate will recognize you!" The girl looked up at Orochimaru with emerald daggers, her body shaking violently, "What are you doing t-to m-me. Ahhhggg!"

Sakura shook in pain as her bones were bent into various shapes. A stiff reptilian tail shot out of her tail bone, as her middle toes expanded into talons. Her legs and arms gained mass under her skin. Unable to move Sakura could only shake in horror as her face pulled outwards and turned into a reptilan muzzle. The changes continued until her body ripped out of her human skin. The creature she had become was bird like in a way, and had bright red feathers covering every inch of skin. The one things she retained from her human self were her emerald eyes and her curved bangs, and those were coated red. Exhausted and broken Sakura couldn't help but whimper as her chakra paths took on new positions. While this was going on Orochimaru was putting mass into her former human skin, before mutilating it. "Ku, ku, ku, ku. When Sasuke finds this he'll go after the 'killer' ,you. Then he'll kill it, and in doing so kill you." ,Orochimaru cackled.

Her now redish brown cheek feathers paled in horror, only to return to their proper color. Her eyes narrowed at Orochimaru and with one word, caught the Sinnin off guard, "No."

His eye's widend at Sakura's nerve. Here was this ninja turned animal, not even able to stand and she does something that he hadn't predicted. "What did you say?"

Sakura grinned, she managed to catch the snake off guard, now to bring him down. She laughed in a beautiful inhuman voice, "I said no. As for why? I'm surprised Orochimaru that you didn't look up. Get em' boys!" And with that several million Kunni went airborn. The sinnin's eyes widend in horror as one of them went for his head. The snake laughed, "We'll meet again! And next time you won't be so lucky!" Then in a puff of smoke he vanished, in his place was a log. Sakura grinned a little before passing out.

Sakura looked around at her surroundings, she was in a jungle but in a way it was familiar. 'Where am I' ,Sakura thought. (Opps! Guess I redecorated a little too much! This is your mind!) Sakura spun around to come face to face with another dinosaur just like her. 'Who are you?' ,Sakura questioned. (Don't you remember me? I'm you! Your desires, your thoughts, everything! And like you little sis I changed form. The knowledge is still here, I just redecorated to fit MY needs) ,The Dinosaur explained. 'Do you at least know what we are?' ,asked normal Sakura. (Uh, yeah. That damn snake turned us into velociraptors, why he choose that as our new form I'm not sure. Though I think it was so we were easier to control. Hm, I guess we're more important to Sasuke than we thought.) ,IS inquired. Then a loudmouthed blond brought her back into reality, "Sakura! Sasuke! NOOOO!"

Sakura found herself sprawled out on the forest floor with Naruto howling in his sleep. Apparently both her and Sasuke must of just died, going by his howls. Then she noticed the dying fire in front of her, and a warm body pressed against her side. She turned her head and noticed to her surprise, that the source was Sasuke. She smiled, this might not be so bad after all. She closed her eyes and this time she dreamed peaceful dreams that involved prehistoric plains and ultimate freedom.

The next morning Sakura was awokend by a sweet scent of bacon and eggs(lets just say they carry bacon and Naruto eats more than Ramen, but still has the ramen addiction). "Hn, Oh, your awake." ,A groggy Sasuke said, as he heated up some more eggs. Some unusually large eggs that defiantly did not come from a chicken. "Uh Sasuke, where did you get eggs that big?" ,Sakura asked. "Oh uh, Naruto sort of uh, used yours. Uh, you kind of layed them in your sleep." ,Sasuke said as he turned a bright crimson (AN: a little OOC, but it suits my purposes). 'Is he, the Ice cube of Kohona, blushing. Wait a second did he say that I layed those eggs? Then that means…' ,Sakura's thoughts ended as she wreched in disgust, "You ate MY EGGS! Sasuke, you disgusting bastard when I get my hands on you, you're a dead man!"

"I am? I guess I'm sort of eating what could have been your future children. Wait. Holy shit! I am eating your kids." ,Sasuke said in horror before getting punched by Sakura. The punch was quite powerful to his surprise and sent him into table. He was to say the least impressed, and "attempted" to give Sakura a complment, attempted being the word, "Well look at it this way you won't need to spend as much time trying to look good to impress me anymore. Hell…" ,The Uchiha smirked before being cutoff by Sakura. "What's that suppose to mean?!" ,Sakura snapped back before kicking the poor boy in the gut. To Sasuke's surprise and horror, the kick was powerful enough to send him through a tree, and into a cliff knocking him out. It was about then that Naruto came bursting out of the woods. "Sakura-chan, where's the Teme?" ,Naruto asked. Sakura grined and thumbed (yes raptors have thumbs I checked) at the shattered trees. Naruto looked at and shrugged as if it were nothing. That kind of annoyed Sakura. "Oh. Hey Sakura-chan what did you think of those eggs I found? Pretty tasty don't you think?" ,Naruto laughed, only to miss the glare of death that Sakura was giving him. He did notice that Sakura wasn't saying anything. Then he stopped laughing long enough to see the girl dissapear into the trees. "Uh Sakura what are you doing? Huh? AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" ,Naruto screemed. Then the forest went silent.

Sakura stared at her unconscious teammates, before lifting them up and taking off towards the village gates. Even with a load on her back the air ruffling her feathers and the feel of the dirt between her toes was exelirating. As she approached the village gates the guards, Shikamaru, and Kiba, tensed up as a cloud of dust approached them. It was Kiba however who saw the creature creating the cloud and immediately tensed up. "Shikamaru that thing isn't human!" ,Kiba said in shocked tone. "what?!" ,Shikamaru cried out, the blade of grass he was chewing on, falling out of his mouth. Taking a look for himself he saw a bright red creature running for the gate, with two bodies resting on it's back. Obvously it wasn't going to stop for identifcation willingly. Only one choice was left, "Close the gates! Now." ,Shikamaru ordered to the six men behind him. Little did he know this creature knew of another way to get by, by going up.

Sakura laughed at the stupity of the guards, and as soon as the gate was fifty feet away, she coiled up as much energy into her legs as possible. Then in one fluid motion released it, jumping over the gate and landed on a nearby roof, which just happened to be Ino's house and the flower shop her family owned (don't know if that's accurate or not. Oh well) Ino was there and heard the loud thud on the roof. "What the hell was that?" Ino thought aloud. The answer landed in front of her.

Somehow in midjump Sakura had miscalculated the hight of the roof edge and clipped it, hitting her head on the edge of the roof, knocking her unconscious. Her teammates landed on her back as if she were a giant pillow. Ino stared at the sight and noticed the Kohona headband wraped around the creatures neck, then the creature stirred a bit. Opening it's eyes, two familiar emerald gems were staring back at her. Ino gasped, "Sakura?"

Sakura nodded her head, her feathery locks bouncing with each nod. This was to be a long day. "Ino don't panic, but Orochimaru did this to me." ,Sakura said in raspy voice. Ino looked at her friend with concern, "Why would I panic? Your still you on the inside at least."

This brought a smile to Sakura's face, which was quickly replaced by embarasment when her stomach growled, "Uh, he, he, he, You wouldn't happen to have any raw meat lying around?" ,Sakura asked in slight embarasment. Ino gave Sakura a concerned look, "Raw meat? Are you sure you're alright?" Sakura nodded, "I feel fine, I just don't find anything else as appetizing." Ino sighed, "Alright Sakura wait right here, I'll get the meat for you. In the mean time just get comfortable."

Ino walk in the kitchen and pulled out an uncooked steak, 'I'm glad we have a ton of these or else mom would kill me!' Putting the steak in a bowl Ino carried the steak to Sakura. After cautiously sniffing the steak Sakura took her first bite and choked a little. The blood was sticky and didn't go down all that well, but it tasted delicious. This was quiet gross to Ino who felt like she was watching her friend become an animal. In an attempt to put her mind off of this saddening fact she spoke up, "Hey Sakura why don't we wake up Naruto and Sasuke?"

This caught Sakura's attention. "And lose more of my eggs to them? Not a chance in hell!" ,screamed Sakura. Ino jumped back in shock at her friend's reaction. What shocked her more was that Sakura had layed eggs. "What do you mean lose more eggs to them?" ,Ino said in questioning tone. Sakura stood up to her full height, making her two feet taller than Ino. After placing Naruto in one chair and Sasuke in the another she turned to Ino, "I mean those two have found that my eggs are better than regular eggs once cooked." She then turned back to Sasuke checking him over for any injuries, but when she saw his curse seal, she noticed that it was different than before. In fact you could say it was pulsing, with each pulse midnight blue feathers forced their way out of his skin. Noticing this Sakura whimpered and rubbed her muzzle against his shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything." Ino a bit flustered that her friend had her hands around Sasuke, watched in understanding as the midnight-blue feathers marched across Sasuke's body. Then in a voice so quiet the young man replied to Sakura, "It's not your fault, it's no one's fault. At least we'll be together." With those words the world seemed to grind to a halt.

Well here's chapter one, with a little cliffy to keep you interested. Review!

Disclaimer: own I do not.

Sakura stared in disbeleif at her teammate. 'Did he just say 'At least will be together?' ,Sakura shook her head, 'No he couldn't of. No one could ever love me, at least not anymore. Yet he just did in a way. But is her just saying that to please me?'

(Get your head together woman! If it happens to be that he's just saying that then I'll beat him to a pulp!) ,I.S. screamed.

Sakura sighed at her inner self's antics and turned to Ino, "Ino watch Naruto and Sasuke, I've got to inform the Hokage of my, interesting situation."

Ino nodded to her friend and gave her a reassuring look. Sakura trusted Ino to keep her teammates from getting into trouble.

Walking out the side door and into the alley Sakura once again coiled her energy into her legs. In an explosion of leaves she was gone, a red streak headed for the Hokage tower.

When Sakura arrived at the tower she went through the window to avoid any possible fights with the ANUB guards. Surveying the room she came across countless mountains of paperwork, a couple bottles of Saki and rum, before finaly coming across Tunsade, who had passed out on top of a large pile of paperwork. Sakura couldn't help but chuckle a little, 'Same old Tunsade, well time to wake her up.'

"Tunsade-Sensi wake up!" ,Sakura said in a sing-song tone. This caused the busty Hokage to wake with a start. Tunsade looked at Sakura with bloodshot eyes which soon wided in disbelief. "What the hell?" Sakura moved her hands in a calming motion, "Now, now, lets not do anything irrational." "CALM DOWN?" ,Tunsade belowed, causing Sakura to leap back in fear.

"Sensei? You don't recoginise me anymore, do you?" ,Sakura said in a whimper. This caused the drunken Hokage to study the creature before her, the moment she looked in those eyes she immedatly knew, besides the only who calls her sensi is Sakura. "Sakura?" ,Tunsade said in a questioning tone. To her surprise the creature replied. "Yes Hokage-Sensi, it's me. You can thank Orochimaru for my new form. The funny thing is that Sasuke is also losing his humanity because he ate my eggs." ,Sakura finshed in slight embarassment.

"Hm… why does this sound familiar? Wait, did he say why he turned you into this?" ,Tunsade asked.

"He said he did to break Sasuke. Whatever that means." ,Sakura said sad tone. She sighed sadly brushing her feathers to the side, "Is it remotely possible to turn Sasuke and me back to normal?"

Tunsade looked at Sakura sadly, "Yes and no, Your human self has been transformed by a curse. In short, the only way to turn you back is with another curse." A glimer of hope entered the Hokage's eyes as she pulled out a wooden box, "But in your case there is another, a gem to be precise, and fortunately for you I happen to have possesion of this gem."

Unlocking the box, she opened the case, revealing a beautiful Amber gem. Sakura walked up to it in way that it seemed like she was in a trance. As she picked it up with two of her claws, she felt a jolt of energy shoot through her body. Once again she felt her body change, but to her relief there wasn't any pain like before. Her body was becoming more human-like until you could tell who she was. The only things that weren't human were her legs, claws, fang, and tail, but even those were more streamlined. The only thing on her mind however was to get to Sasuke. The gem was still glowed with power, and somehow the gem had given her the power to shift between forms. "Thank you sensi. I better get back to Sasuke before he kills someone." Tunsade smiled, "Take care of him and keep Naruto out of trouble."

Sakura nodded to her sensi and changed into a more comfortable form, her raptor form. Partly because she was adjusted to this form, but mosly because she didn't want to go streaking across town, advertising her body to the world.

Back at the gate…

"Damn it why won't this thing open?" ,cursed Kiba.

"Hm… Lets see, who's dog chewed up the rope?" ,Shikamaru sighed.

"Akumaru!!!"

At Ino's house…

Sasuke had become full dinosaur and Ino had long since passed out. Apparently she has a weak stomach, and when Sasuke tore through his human skin she threw up. Naruto however was not a happy camper, to his unpleasant surprise the eggs had caused his Naruko half to become a separate person, excpet she was the girl equivlent of Naruto. She wasn't as busty, or curvy, as the sexy jutsu version of her, instead she was rugged looking woman, with slender yet strong arms. Her long hair was down and her bangs covered half her face creating a wild and dangerous appearance. She was wearing a tight black tee shirt, and orange vest, and a pair of orange pants. But much to everyones' surprise she actually was trying to get Naruto to eat something other than ramen. This is what Sakura found when she entered the room.

"Come on Naruto, either you eat some of this food that Ino made, or I'll turn you into MY IDENTICLE TWIN!" ,Naruko said to her faternal twin.

Naruto paled at the thought of become a girl like his other-half, the worst part was that Naruko was attracted to Kiba of all people! That was not anywhere near funny. If Naruko is what Naruto would of grown up to be as a girl, then that that meant as a girl Naruto had poor taste (personaly I nothing aginst Kiba, hell he, if anything reminds me of myself minus the bloodline trait anyways on with the story!), well at least in Naruto eyes.

The scary part was Naruto had no doubt in his mind that Naruko could carry out her threat. Fortunatly for him Naruko had a kind heart would never permantly harm him. But before the two contuied their argument Naruko ended it by 'temperally' turning Naruto into her Identical twin. "What the hell was that for?" ,Naruto said in his new femiane voice.

"You were asking for it. Besides, I'll turn you back if you help me with a few things." ,Naruko said sweet voice. Sakura laughed at this, and got everyones attention before proceeding up the stairs. It was quiet up there, making much easier to hear the sound of window opening and twice as easy to hear the thud of someone jumping to the ground. 'Damn it Sasuke Uchiha! Why do you always run! At least I can catch you now.' ,Sakura thought with smirk.

'I thought I'd go nuts in that place but now I'm free.' ,Thought Sasuke, who had taken refuge in a alleyway that no one else seemed to know about, not even his fan girls. Or so he thought. It was in this moment that Sakura chose to drop on in. Landing with a satisfying crunch in front of Sasuke.

"Wwwwhhhhaaa! Ommph!"

"What the hell? Sakura?" ,Sasuke said in shock, wondering if his MATE was injured. Wait His MATE? Where the hell did that come from? Still somewhere in his heart he discovered love, and this love was for the pink-haired beauty before him. Yet something was wrong somehow Sakura was hurt. But the damage became clear the moment she transformed into her human form. Her bones in her legs had shattered from impact of her uncontrolled fall. She looked at Raven colored raptor before her, before tossing him a stone, no a gem to be precise. It's inner light lured him in, and as he picked it up and held it in his hand, his body returned to it's former form. He didn't have time to inspect his changes at the moment, but he was sure that he would be able to get around the village without creating a stir. Sakura was currently focusing on healing her legs, before she finally succeded. "You should have looked before you leaped, if you had, you wouldn't have hurt yourself." ,He said in a monotone voice. "Go figure I do everything to help you and you blow me off!" ,Sakura fumed. Then Sasuke the Ice man became putty in the pink haired girl's hands. "Who said I blew you off?" ,The Uchia questioned before letting a small smile cross his face, "I actually want to thank you. Plus even though Itachi still lives, I'm tired of wasting my life on revenge. I want a family, I want you Sakura."

Sakura looked at Sasuke in shock, "W-what?"

"I said, I want you. Besides I want to take you up on your offer for a date, if it's still up.


End file.
